The incoming Prime Minister is being urged to break with austerity and introduce Right to Food legislation, as the UK Right to Food Commission prepares to take evidence from MPs in Westminster this week.

The Commission will hear from Members of Parliament alongside a panel of anti-poverty campaigners, academics and experts as it continues work on a legislative roadmap aimed at ending food insecurity across the UK.

The Westminster session follows hearings in Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow, where the Commission heard evidence from food campaigners, public health experts, community groups, trade unions, doctors, academics, third sector organisations and food banks.

The Commission said the evidence had consistently shown that hunger in one of the world’s wealthiest countries was “neither inevitable nor acceptable”.

Its final recommendations are expected to set out legislative and policy proposals for the UK Government, devolved administrations and policymakers, including calls for access to food to be recognised as a fundamental human right.

Commission vice chair Ian Byrne MP said food insecurity was “not a food problem” but “an income problem”.

“People are going hungry because wages are too low, work is too insecure, social security is inadequate and the cost of food, housing and energy has risen beyond what millions of families can afford,” he said.

Byrne added that emergency food aid had become a permanent part of the UK’s social security system, despite never being designed for that role.

“For years I have campaigned in Parliament for the Right to Food to be recognised in law because nobody in one of the richest countries in the world should have to rely on emergency food aid to feed themselves or their children,” he said.

“As we head to Westminster to hear from MPs alongside leading anti-poverty experts, academics and campaigners, we are bringing together the evidence needed to create a legislative roadmap that tackles the root causes of hunger, not simply its consequences.”

Byrne said the arrival of a new Prime Minister created a “one-off opportunity” to move away from the austerity model and build an economy and welfare system that guarantees “dignity, security and the basic right to eat”.

SallyAnn Kelly OBE, children’s rights expert and former Aberlour chief executive, said it was “tragic” that a Commission of this kind was needed in a wealthy country.

She said the evidence gathered so far showed that families wanted the dignity of being able to choose, buy and prepare food that met their needs, culture and preferences.

“Children, disabled people, lone parents and many other communities face the greatest barriers to food security,” Kelly said.

“That is why lasting change cannot rely on food-aid responses alone. It requires governments to ensure that incomes are adequate, support reaches people before they reach crisis, and public policy is judged by whether families can afford the essentials.”

She added that a Right to Food framework could create clearer accountability by placing duties on governments to prevent hunger, measure progress transparently and involve people with lived experience in shaping policy.

Commission chair Barrie Margetts, emeritus professor at the University of Southampton, said the Commission had heard from people across the country who were unable to make ends meet.

“The cost of food, rent and other bills is more than their incomes, and benefits just don’t cover their needs,” he said.

“Food insecurity is not about the availability of food, it is about people not being able to afford food. We heard that many people in work rely on food banks to feed their families.”

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union general secretary and Commission vice chair Sarah Woolley said it was unacceptable that many of the people who grow, make, transport and sell food were struggling to put food on the table themselves.

“Food insecurity is a symptom of low pay, insecure work and an economy that too often fails working people,” she said.

Woolley said fair wages, decent employment, a liveable social security system, free school meals and strong community support all had a role to play in preventing hunger before families reached crisis point.

“The solutions won’t look identical in every community, but the principle should be the same everywhere: governments must accept responsibility for ensuring everyone has enough income to afford food, while giving local communities the resources and flexibility to deliver solutions that reflect local needs,” she added.

“That’s what a meaningful Right to Food should achieve.”

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